Cbs Banks On Top Seeds Over Mid-majors

JIM SARNI ON BROADCAST SPORTS

March 24, 2006|JIM SARNI ON BROADCAST SPORTS

After Jim Nantz and Billy Packer caused a media storm with their criticism of the mid-major at-large teams on Selection Sunday, it would have been fitting if they had been assigned to tonight's George Mason-Wichita State game.

No such luck. Nantz and Packer are in Minneapolis, calling the Boston College-Villanova and Florida-Georgetown games.

The rise of the mid-majors may be the story of the first week, but CBS thinks most of America wants to see the big boys.

BC-Villanova is going to 86 percent of the country, while George Mason-Wichita State rates 14 percent. Thursday night, Memphis-Bradley went to 16 percent of the country.

"Who knows? We could have all No. 1 seeds in the Final Four for the first time," Packer said before the round of 16 began Thursday. "Or we could have two Missouri Valley teams in the Final Four."

Packer is pumped for BC-Villanova.

"This is going to be one of the most brutally contested games in an NCAA Tournament," he said. "The teams know each other very well and played in the same [Big East] conference last year."

While UF-Georgetown is the undercard, the game features the Gators' Joakim Noah, who became a breakout national star during the first week.

"Noah is the player who was a lot better than I thought," Packer said. "He's a player who can take over a game."

DOHERTY PHONES IT IN

FAU coach Matt Doherty, who was a top broadcaster at CSTV before returning to the sidelines, joins Bonnie Bernstein on the Sprint Tournament Center for the regionals.

The first attempt at original sports programming for wireless phones was a big hit.

"The downloads on the first day exceeded all of the hits Sprint got the entire NFL season," Bernstein said.

Wallace joins a redesigned ABC/ESPN broadcast team that includes returning analyst Scott Goodyear and veteran ESPN auto racing announcer Marty Reid. Brent Musburger will be the host of the first three live IndyCar races, including the Indy 500. Jack Arute, Dr. Jerry Punch and Jamie Little will report from the pits.

"I'm really fired up to do this," Wallace said. "I'm a NASCAR guy, but I'm a driver at heart. This is awesome racing."

TENNIS COVERAGE STARTS

ESPN2 begins Nasdaq-100 Open coverage with two telecasts Saturday and one Sunday. Next week, ESPN2 will air two telecasts daily through the semifinals Friday. CBS televises the finals.

With the Big Dance going on, Sun Sports airs a new episode of Inside The Heat that focuses on the Heat dancers. It debuts tonight at 10. ...

ESPN Radio 760 is the new Palm Beach County affiliate for the Marlins radio network. The station will carry a minimum of 130 games, including pregame. Marlins manager Joe Girardi will appear every Tuesday at 5:05 p.m. throughout the season on Palm Beaches GameDay with Evan Cohen. ...

The Marlins preseason special with Craig Minervini, which premiered on FSN Florida on Thursday, replays Saturday at 4:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. and March 31 at 2:30 p.m. ...

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine for complete coverage of the NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Championship, televising all 15 games. ESPNU will televise all 12 regional semifinal and final matchups, beginning today.

Read more at sun-sentinel.com. Jim Sarni can be reached at jsarni@sun-sentinel.com.

SARNI'S PICKS OF THE WEEK

TODAY

Florida faces Georgetown, one of four Sweet 16 games (9:40 p.m., Chs. 4, 12). ... Sasha Cohen and the team of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto compete in the World Figure Skating Championships (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

SATURDAY

Wall-to-wall hoops with two men's NCAA games, four women's NCAA games and men's and women's Division II finals. ... Tiger Woods heads the field at The Players Championship (2 p.m. today, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Chs. 5, 6). ... The $21 million Dubai World Cup gets on-site coverage for the first time (3 p.m., Chs. 10, 25).

SUNDAY

The men complete the Final Four (2:30 p.m., Chs. 4, 12), while the women set up the Elite Eight (noon and 7 p.m., ESPN). ... The Nextel Cup races in Bristol (1:30 p.m., Chs. 7, 29) while the IRL opens its season in Homestead (3:30 p.m., Chs. 10, 25).